Profile: Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud

Baitullah Mehsud, reported by intelligence officials to be dead, rose from a humble beginning as a gym instructor to become Pakistan's leading Talban commander.

By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad

5:54PM BST 07 Aug 2009

Born in 1974 in Bannu in North West Frontier Province to a lowly position within his own tribe, Mehsud was physically unimposing and suffered from diabetes. But fought against tribal rivals and won backing from more powerful commanders in the region, eventually declaring himself leader of Pakistan's Taliban and leading his fighters in staging a wave of suicide attacks.

After a failed peace accord in February 2005, Mehsud's militants waged a guerrilla war that virtually pushed the army out of South Waziristan, at one time capturing an entire battalion of one of Pakistan's most distinguished regiments.

In late 2007, Mehsud proclaimed himself leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Movement of Taliban of Pakistan, grouping 13 factions. The Taliban movement has its roots in Pashtun tribes which straddle both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier. But Mehsud's Pakistani organisation has traditionally been preoccupied with affairs on its side of the border, despite swearing allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Afghan Taliban leader.

Mehsud became Public Enemy Number One after launching suicide attacks in 2007 against the army and politicians after commandos stormed Islamabad's Red Mosque. He has also been accused of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in the same year, a charge he denied.

Regarded as an ally of al-Qaeda, Mehsud assembled militants from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Punjabi based group that has provided al-Qaeda's foot soldiers in Pakistan, along with Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters within al-Qaeda's network.